“If Wanda is the problem, she has to be our solution.” That’s just one of the WandaVision quotes that’ll hit you in the feels.
Imagine what you’d pay corporate consultants to deliver you the above epiphany.
You don’t have to be an MCU geek or even a comic book fan to gain infinity stone level insight from WandaVision. It’s a 9 episode series steeped in oblivion, anguish, subterfuge, Easter eggs, pop culture, and redemption.
Why should you care? Because by reading some WandaVision quotes and spending some time inside WandaVision (without spoilers, I promise), you’ll learn why self-reflection and awareness are key to growing – personally and professionally – and how to turn an awkward moment on its ear to great effect.
In other words, you can binge WandaVision in the name of professional development and personal growth.
Ready? With the speed of a Bewitched nose twitch, let’s get going.
Lesson 1: When things go off the rails, you have everything you need to recover
Wanda has an apron and perfectly coifed hair, but when it comes time to play the happy hostess to her husband’s boss, the cupboards are bare. (And she’s also woefully underdressed.) Vision, her husband, plays those things off as tradition in her home country in a moment of quick thinking. A laugh, a wink, and a bit of improvising, and she’s off to make finger foods.
There isn’t a person among us who hasn’t shown up to an event overdressed or underprepared. It’s agony at the moment, but it’s just that—a moment. You hold your chin high, rock your denim or silk, and plow forward.
Wanda and Vision try to fit in by participating in a magic show to raise money for local kids. Seeing as they both have powers that could be defined as magical, the hijinks come off as comedy as they try to make their magic not seem real.
Lesson 2: If fitting in means suppressing your talents, you’re in the wrong room
Don’t be misled into thinking that what you’re great at isn’t essential. You can translate skills to another discipline and learn new things, but hold tight to what comes to you naturally, no matter how threatened, confused, or annoyed other people are by it.
A scene in which a character is guided back to moments in the past and told, “The only way forward is back,” underscores that each step in our personal journeys makes us where we are today. Each memory brings new context to what’s happening in and around Wanda.
Lesson 3: Understanding where we’re from is essential to moving forward with purpose + confidence
As we operate in an increasingly digital and touchless reality, consider what hasn’t worked, what has, and beyond that, the opportunities to carry forward things that may be better suited to today than previous experiences.
Lesson 4: A year can damn near break you
The journey from March of 2020 to March of 2021 was a doozy. We’re changed; maybe you’ve stopped wearing shoes as you work from home, or you no longer color your hair. You’ve probably also shifted how you prioritize things—in-person meetings aren’t necessary; the traditional 9-5 feels outdated.
You can – and should – look and feel different after what you’ve lived through, but it doesn’t mean you’re broken.
WandaVision has a plethora of hat tips to different eras, with each moment highly orchestrated to deliver lessons long after the series ends. Even the commercials they broadcast are poignant – there’s an element of poking fun and brutal truth.
For example, the Nexus ad warns of side effects that include: Feeling your feelings, confronting your truths, and seizing your destiny “Because the world doesn’t revolve around you…or does it?”
Lesson 5: Sometimes, those commercials you mock are dead-on
Everyone is the protagonist of their own story (well, most people), but that doesn’t mean that other people, perspectives, or realities don’t exist.
Take a minute to think about how you see things, then put yourself in someone else’s shoes.
Does your inability to get a to-go order as fast as you used to seem infuriating when you think about the pressure of delivering more orders with more obstacles and less staff to more customers with less patience?
Lesson 6: Fear isn’t reserved for the weak
We’re conditioned to outgrow the fear of things that go bump in the night. As professionals, we’re supposed to employ logic and reason, but does that mean there’s no room for fear? Absolutely not.
Being scared can be an incredible instrument of intuition. Don’t ignore those times when you feel the tickle of a warning. The knowledge that comes from digging into the root of the fear can shed light on both your obstacles and opportunities.
Lesson 7: Understanding is a verb
This one is very straightforward, yet most of us fail to remember it.
The people who look like they have it all figured out have worked hard to get to where they are—they research and really toil to find meaning, answers, satisfaction. If you can get to a place where you respect that process, you’ll find your endurance for pursuing solutions grows exponentially.
Lesson 8: “I’m fine” is almost always a lie.
I mean, you knew this, right? Maybe we can take this pearl from WandaVision and start living it.
The next time someone asks how you’re doing, consider answering honestly.
Let’s practice:
“How are you?”
“Beat.”
“So-so.”
“Fully comprehending the quiet terror of being alive.”
All of these are options instead of saying all is well – we can’t be rooted in reality if we refuse to acknowledge it.
See where it goes.
As a character in WandaVision said: “The worst thing I can think of has already happened to me, and I can’t change it. I can’t undo it. I can’t control this pain anymore. And I don’t think I want to because it’s my truth.”
Lesson 9: Our actions and emotions have consequences
The division of work and home has blurred for many of us; our dining rooms have become offices, our children veritable co-workers, and our pets moving scenery during Zoom or Teams meetings. Things happening to us outside of work have always been an influence; we just haven’t normalized talking about them – yet.
WandaVision shows the ripples effects of grief, not unlike It’s a Wonderful Life showing the “what if” scenario. It becomes clear that having a stiff upper lip won’t create an effective barrier to our emotions. And, on the bright side, the potential to take our pain and use it to influence how we conduct ourselves always exists.
We are everything that we’ve endured, and recognizing that can make us stronger, as well as offer insights to a range of scenarios.
Whether it’s the Marvel Comic Universe or our own, the world has infinite characters with storylines that overlap, contradict, and evolve.
What’s a person to do?
Take what you know today, integrate the tools and knowledge you have available, and move toward writing the story to balance contentment, goodwill, and teamwork. You might just find magic along the way.
